三
=
一
+
二
:
Mnemonic symbol: Cartesian coordinate system with three (三) axes. Socrates (s-) is performing in front of the anthill (-an1). He created an electrical flute by attaching a large capacitor (二) to the flute (一), so that he can get the attention of all the people. Moreover, he's balancing on a Cartesian coordinate system (三). Unfortunately, only three (三) people stop to watch the performance.
只
=
八
+
口
:
Mnemonic symbol: this character looks like something (a head?) on two legs. I'll just represent it by a cuttlefish (只). James II of England (zh) has been in the space station (Ø3) as the only (只) one for too long and went mad. He thinks he's holding a mandarin (口), but he's just about to bite into merely (只) an eight ball (八). On the top of his head is a cuttlefish (只) he mistook for a hat.
hand / (formal) to hold / person engaged in certain types of work / person skilled in certain types of work / personal(ly) / convenient / classifier for skill / CL:雙|双[shuang1],隻|只[zhi1]
Mnemonic symbol: a baseball glove. Sherlock Holmes (sh) is trying out his new baseball glove (手) in the outhouse's living room (ou3).